Search and Inquire
by Artemis-chan of Redwing
Summary: [G1] Two Seekers are sent to investigate an unusual Autobot sighting.  Follows from Are You Lost, Little Boy?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** This is a follow up to "Are You Lost, Little Boy?" and only came about because while I was at work a few days ago (the same pool I described in the last story), two jets circled around a couple of times. Of course, nerd that I am, my first thought was, "Seekers!" And then I had to go back to stopping people killing themselves on the diving platforms. So...enjoy!

**Search and Inquire**

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Thundercracker usually enjoyed reconnaissance missions, particularly when he was paired with his wing mate Skywarp. The fact that they were investigating a rather unorthodox sighting of Autobots was unusual, as opposed to scouting for new potential energon sites. They flew in silence, and Thundercracker was absorbed in his thoughts as to _why_ that wretched Minibot would be caught all the way out here, more than half the continent away from the Ark and the soon-to-be completed Autobot City. Clearly, it was a matter of stealth and interactions with the humans, if Bumblebee was, indeed, the one out here.

However, as the jets actually passed over the major city (an interesting phenomenon from a design standpoint, situated on a point as it was) and continued to the suburb, the blue flier couldn't help but wonder what in the world had called the Minibot all the way out here. His thoughts were interrupted by his wing mate's voice over the comm.

"We almost there, TC?" Of course, it figured that Skywarp had been distracted during their (admittedly brief) briefing. Sending his scanners out, though, Thundercracker found that they had, indeed, almost passed the site.

"Yeah. It's supposed to be right around here somewhere," he radioed back. Below them was a busy highway which connected to a large shopping area, and what looked like a park sat just off the highway, near a building complex. The scanners also showed a human airport not far off, and Thundercracker dropped altitude accordingly, Skywarp following his lead. No need to crash into those floating tubs the humans considered passenger vehicles.

The pair began low, circling sweeps of the area. Thundercracker's thoughts were once again interrupted by his partner. "Hey, TC, what's that down there?" The blue jet found his attention directed towards a large, cleared area on the edge of the park, what looked to be two swimming pools, and it was densely populated.

"I don't know, 'Warp, but there sure are a lot of squishies, aren't there?" Curious, the two jets circled past the pools several times, flying low and drawing a number of stares from the humans below them. An unseen signal passed between the two, and they suddenly landed and transformed on the far side of the smaller pool in a smallish clearing.

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Ivy sighed in relief, climbing out of the Dive Pool to get ready for her sit. After the highly unnerving incident the other day with the transforming car, all she really wanted was a nice, relaxing day of stopping people from breaking their necks on the diving platforms. Mike had been kind enough, after that day, to keep her over in the Dive Pool.

She grabbed her towel, whistle, and sunglasses and relieved Eric of his post, settling herself into the chair with the ease of familiarity. She hadn't however, even had time to ask the first patron the usual slew of questions as he ascended the tower before two jets roared overhead. Ivy stared at them in confusion, wonder, and curiosity; while planes regularly passed over the Wave Pool, jets usually only showed up the weekend of the Air Show, and that certainly wasn't any time soon. As the jets made their second pass, Ivy also noted that they were incredibly low; she could make out some of the detail painting and, while not an aircraft connoisseur, it certainly didn't look like anything familiar.

The patron had jumped off the 7.5 meter platform by the time the jets made their third and final pass, which ended in with a landing in the mall clearing behind Dive Pool, directly in Ivy's field of vision. When the planes decided to turn in to robots - _bigger than that other one_, her brain noted absently - she did the only thing she could think of: she blew three whistles to summon Mike and cleared Dive Pool.

"Everyone needs to exit Dive Pool immediately. Do not approach the robots. Exit Dive Pool and get on the other side of the white benches. Now, please!" Setting down the microphone, Ivy hopped down from her chair to usher patrons outside of the gate, glad that Ryan and Nick had been spending their break in the area. She kept glancing up at the robots, absently noting the purple symbol on their wings - _different from the other robot_ - as well as their slightly menacing postures. However, neither mech made any threatening movements towards the humans until the area was cleared and a number of rookies were working crowd control.

Mike approached Ivy, and the two watched the mechs resting on the far side of the Dive Pool from them. "Think this has something to do with the other day?" he asked her in a soft voice, and Ivy nodded. She took a deep breath and, with a nod from Mike, made her way around the pool to the fence on the other side, keeping the barrier between her and the robots.

"Um, excuse me?" she called to them, feeling somewhat exposed in her two-piece guard suit but unable to do anything about it at that point. The feeling of exposure increased as the giants turned their full attention on her. "My name's Ivy, I'm one of the lifeguards out here. Can I help you with anything?"

The purple and black one crouched down, as if to get a better look at her, and its glowing red eyes peered at her. It did not, however, address her. "Hey, TC," it said aloud, "isn't this one kind of short for a squishy?" Its blue companion seemed to...sigh?

"'Warp, remember that thing we watched last week? Organics have to grow, so she's probably not full-grown yet. Not," the blue one noted, "that most squishies get much bigger."

Ivy couldn't help it. Her small size had long been a sticking point, especially in a job where she might have to rescue someone three or four times her size. Taking a calming breath, she replied to the robots. "I _am_ fully grown, thanks." Her eyes narrowed at them, conveying her irritation at being spoken of like an object.

In front of her, the purple one's red eyes brightened, and a smile appeared on its face. "Oooh, TC, it's got some spunk!" 'Warp turned to its partner, and Ivy would have sworn that a slightly pleading look came over its face. "Can we take it home with us? I mean, just imagine Screamer's face!" The blue mech, TC, released a long-suffering sigh, and Ivy was reminded of her own sisters.

"'Warp, you know we can't do that. We're to investigate that fragging Minibot and then get back. Besides, I don't think _she_ would like that very much," it said, indicating the diminutive lifeguard. 'Warp's face fell, and TC sighed again. "Fine, how about we see if Screamer's up for a game of Storm Tag when we get back, okay?"

"You're the best, TC!" Purple and back launched itself at blue, and the two crashed back into the trees. The sound of splintering wood and two large, mechanical bodies hitting the ground made Ivy wince and cover her ears. Of course, TC's yelp of surprise and subsequent orders to get off did nothing to help the volume level.

"Skywarp! Get off! I swear to Primus I'll never help you prank Screamer again if you don't!"

Ivy sighed. It was exactly like dealing with her sisters.

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_TBC? I might not be able to drag any more out of this, but there's something about the interaction of Skywarp and Thundercracker that just cracks me up here. And yes, they do remind me of my sisters. That's probably not a good thing, all told._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** Shorter than the previous bit, but I felt that was a good place to leave off. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! Also, ideas for the next bit are more than appreciated.

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It was several minutes before black-and-purple got off of blue, and by that time the county police officer had shown up. As soon as the officer caught sight of the two giant robots, he radioed his station, requesting backup before he approached the Dive Pool. He nodded to the guards working crowd control and walked calmly, confidently up to the white fence. It was at this point, however, that the blue robot looked over at him.

"Slag!" it hissed, face turning sour. "'Warp, we got authorities." Skywarp's head snapped up, and his face, previously rather playful, turned serious.

"We haven't completed our mission, TC!" it almost whined at its partner, and the officer looked on in horror as the blue robot grabbed a young female lifeguard.

"Then we'll talk to this one on the way back to base. Now let's get the frag out of here before those slagging Autobots show up!" It almost casually tossed the lifeguard into the orange-covered cockpit on its chest, and both giants transformed and flew off before the officer could do more than gape in surprise.

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This was, Ivy decided, probably not a good thing. She was less than half-dressed, thrown unexpected into the cockpit of a fighter jet that was also a giant sentient robot, and God only knew where they were taking her and how she'd get home! All of this built up inside of her for several minutes right after her sudden departure from her job, until the diminutive lifeguard finally snapped.

"Where the _fuck_ do you think you're taking me?" Her furious voice broke the silence of the flight, and it seemed almost as if TC had forgotten about her presence.

"Umm..." came the robot's voice through a speaker on the console in front of her. "We, uh, haven't actually figured that out yet." The blue jet seemed rather sheepish, though this did absolutely nothing to help Ivy's mood.

"And _what_ do you mean by _that_?" The little fleshing's tone of voice was both angry and dangerous, and Thundercracker had the very brief thought that this little one could take on Megatron for "Who can be scarier when angry."

"I, uh, that is..." TC trailed off for a moment before continuing in a sheepish voice. "We, uh, weren't exactly supposed to take you with us." Ivy felt all of the rage in her deflate.

"Good fucking _God_," she muttered, her head falling into her hands. The jet waggled a bit, side to side, and Ivy gripped the seat in a brief panic. "The hell are you doing?"

"Trying to keep from cramping up," came the slightly irritated voice. Ivy's eyes widened a bit and she relaxed her grip.

"Okay, that's fine," she conceded. TC snorted over the speaker.

"So glad you approve." The blue Seeker was, by this time, becoming more than a little bit annoyed with the squishy in his cockpit, and sent a tight communication to Skywarp.

_"Well, 'Warp, looks like we get to see how Screamer reacts to the squishy after all."_ His only response was a cackling from his wing mate as the two flew towards the sunken Nemesis.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** I'm actually pretty content with the size of this chapter. It's been hanging around my computer in various forms for the last several months, and I apologize for the delay, to the 14 of you who have this sucker on alert. Oo Talk about surprising me!

Regardless, enjoy the chapter kids. I make no promises about the next update, what with my senior year of uni eating up my life.

* * *

Blaster intercepted the request for immediate Autobot assistance and rerouted it to Prowl The Allegheny County Police officer making the call sounded frantic and, as the story was recounted, Prowl felt his logic processor starting to freeze.

"Prowl to Prime, requesting your presence immediately."

"Prime here. I'll be right over, Prowl."

No, mused Prowl, trying his hardest to stop his computer from failing him, this was definitely not a situation he could handle alone. Too many illogical moves made by Thundercracker and Skywarp for him to be able to process it. Once Optimus Prime reached Prowl's location (a side room to the central communications hub of Autobot City), the tactician relayed the police officer's message.

"The report is that two Seekers, descriptions matching Thundercracker and Skywarp, buzzed a wave pool near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The county police officer states that they flew over a few times, landed and transformed. The life guarding staff cleared the immediate area, and one of the senior lifeguards began negotiations. Upon arrival of the human officer, however, the Seekers grabbed the girl and took off, without firing a shot."

"Current location?" queried the Prime, his CPU racing to keep up with the information.

"We've managed to get a tag on them using Cosmos, and they're heading west over Middle America right now. It appears as if they're heading back to the Nemesis."

_'Frag me to the Pit and back,'_ the Autobot leader thought. "This is outside the standard Decepticon operating procedure," he murmured, almost to himself. "Prowl, develop a strategy to get that human out of Decepticon hands with the fewest number of casualties, put together a team, and deploy." Optimus paused and looked out of his second's door. "Let's not drag this out, old friend."

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It was a quick, terse discussion over their comms (kept open because the squishy didn't like them talking about her without her knowing) in which they decided on the next course of action, and their cover story. Thundercracker and Skywarp would claim that they had grabbed the girl because they hadn't gotten the necessary information from her yet, and they had wanted to avoid any entanglements with the authorities that might possibly lead to Autobot involvement. Of course, they reasoned, Starscream would call them cowards (and then want to examine the squishy, that scientific side of him coming out like it occasionally did) and Megatron might very well punish them, but...oh well.

"So, you're telling me that you two are going to take complete blame for this-as you should-and that your boss might beat you up for it?" Ivy appeared to be having a difficult time coming to terms with this, and Thundercracker sighed.

"We're military. Megatron can't confine us to base, especially since it's underwater-"

"And we'd go insane!" Skywarp interrupted his wing mate with a shudder. Ivy felt a brief flash of sympathy for the two jets; despite her affinity for water, she had no desire to be stuck under it, no matter how stable the structure.

"So it won't be that bad," Thundercracker concluded. The communication lines fell silent for several moments before Skywarp spoke up.

"Beside," he said with a giggle, "seeing Screamer's face when he gets a look at you will be entirely worth it!" The black-and-purple jet burst into full-fledged laughter, and Ivy felt herself growing more and more confused. She poked her ride's dash.

"Uh, TC? Who's this 'Screamer'?" She could almost _feel_ the jet snort.

"That'd be Starscream, our Air Commander and Megatron's dubious second-in-command. He'll either want to kill you on sight, demand to Megatron that we take you back where we found you, or steal you away to study you." Ivy's eyebrows reached astronomical heights at this statement.

"Screamer's not the most stable of mechs, you know," tossed off Skywarp. "We're never quite sure what motivates his processor."

Almost timidly, the unwilling hostage raised a hand, as though afraid to be called upon in class. "You guys...you won't leave me alone with him, will you?"


End file.
